National Republican., 1887-02-01
MIRACLES IN IRON.
The oogetic Range In the North of
Wisconsin,

Tho GoRetic Range In the North OF
Wisconsin.
A pleasant two days journey from Wash
ington win take traveller TO point In the
north Of Wisconsin which for ceaseless ac-
tvity and marvellous transformation has
scarcely parallel In the history Of any
part Of our country. To state some OF the
actual facts regarding what has been done
in the past eighteen months in this region
Of which we speak would read more like q
fairy tale than, old historical facts. In Ash
land county, Wis, about 10 miles south of
Lake Superior, lies low mountain range
with an altitude Of 300 feet. Its general
direction is from southwest to northeast,
and Is about thirty miles long. IL was
originally called the Penikee range from
an Indian word meaning iron, but is now
known as the Gogetic (hard sound Of g)
iron range.
The country is wild, picturesque, and the
forest primeval forms such wilderness
that although the geologists and explorers
had penetrated It's seclusion and brought
back authentic reports Of fine deposits Of
iron ore as far back as 1850, the aggressive
ness of human enterprise has never until
within the last three years attempted to
overcome the obstacles which nature pre-
| sented against the development Of her hid
| den resources.
The transformation has been almost mag
| ical within the last eighteen months.
| Towns have grown up III night, and an
| entirely unpopulated region is teeming
With thousands Of active men, Henley,
| Wisconsin, last year was struggling hamlet
| containing eighty souls. Now her popula
tion is over 1900, and her rough buts have
| given way to Queen Anne houses and
| 1000 hotel. In the hurry to get rich the
stumps OF the ancient trees have been left
| in the streets and yards to vary the land
scspe. Land which sold four years age at
| Sl,25 an acre is selling now at 81 800 for
lot 20 by 150 feet. Capital which avoided
this region as man would poison Is now
pouring In by the million.
And what Is the cause of all this9
Simply this, that in the bosom Of this
range, for distance Of fifteen miles, lies
posit OF what is known as Bessemer hema-
lite ere, species Of iron ore which pro-
duces q very fine quality OF steel.
To understand more fully what a Besse-
mer ore lie, It may be stated that to come
within the Bessemer limit the ore must not
contain more than unit In thousandths OF
phosphorus for every unit Of iron. That is
to say, II the ore is 65 per cent. iron the
phosphorus must not exceed .0G5 In the
desirable quality Of freedom from phos-
pborus the ores Of the Gogetic range are
not surpassed by any ores in the world, the
average analysis showing about .O33, or full
ten points lower than is necessary to come
within the Bessemer limit. In respect Of
richness there are few ores In the world that
can show an average of 90 or Ga per cent.
OF metallic iron, aud yet many OF the Co.
getIc ores are richer than this, while none
Of the ores from the range show less than
GO per cent. in iron. The celebrated Taf
naor Spanish ores do not average more than
81 per cent. Of iron, while some of the
| ipb mi n,
within 6 per cent. of the limit that can bC
reached by iron ore.
The records Of shipments from these
mines for the last season Is something re-
markable, inasmuch as they have shipped
1000 tons Of ore, although some of the
mines did not begin to ship until last July
This is more than was shipped from the
Marquette and Negarmer mines In thu
twentieth year Of their working.
The furnaces Of Cleveland, Milwaukee
Pittsburg, and Chicago absorb the produc
Of these mines. One Of the wonders and
interesting features Of this region is the
ore dock, which has been built by tn,
at Ashland, Wis.,, which is said to be the
largest single ore dock in the world. The
length Of the dock proper is LAOS feet
about quarter Of mile. The width o
the dock is 46 feet, and 1t is 40 feet abov,
water level. The foundation consists o
1898 piles, aggregating 24O, 600 lineal feet
op s doWn over FROM ss s to Hi 81 ees ses nto st
bottom of the harbor by powerful
> steam drivers. The material used II
the superstructure consists Of 5000, 900 fee
of timber and plank, and 1,7S0,000 pound
!, Of iron and steel. The single item o
spikes is 112,O00 pounds. There are 23
tons each, giving total storage capacit.
!. . OF nearly $4,000 gross tons. One mllloi
tons of ore can be handled through th,
dock annually during the shipping season
Two more docks exceeding this one in siz
have been contracted for.
. 1t may sound extravagant to state tina
, more money has been made out of thes,
0 mines In the last two years than was eve
) made In similar period in the creates
gold excitement our country has ever seen
Yet this is true and can be proved, an(
contrary to the general result Of minin
excitements, instead of few men MAXIM
immense fortunes, the wealth made out Q
these mines is distributed among larg
number Of comparatively poor people, prc
fessional and business men and womer
with only moderate means. Hundreds G
small investors have cleared from $500
upwards, the stocks which they bought hay
ing increased in value from two TO twenty
five times.
, While remarkable amount of work ha
| Dteu uOne Ill lIe lhbu LWelN6 mOuJns, btl
greater activity will prevail next year, an
two more railroads are building into th
region to compete for the business, a lin
Of large steam barges is projected to trant
port the ore from Ashland to the market
on the lakes, and with the promising ou
look for the steel and iron trade this comm
year these mines, the ore Of which is In sue
demand that Bradstreet stated that th
supply is SOC, 900 tons behind the deman
for the past season, seemed to have bee
> opened up at most opportune time.